2011 Road Atlanta Endurance Event

  2011 Road Atlanta Endurance Event

Race details
Competition	GPVWC Special Event
Date	24th November, 2011
Location	Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia, USA
Course	Road Course 2.540 mi / 4.088 km
Duration	2.4 Hours
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
P1 Class	Lukas Euler	Peugeot 908 HDI
	1:06.487
GT1 Class	Boyd Bryson	Corevette C6R
	1:15.928
Race Result
P1 Winner	Lukas Euler	Peugeot 908 HDI
P1 Fastest Lap	Lukas Euler	Peugeot 908 HDI
	1:07.221
GT1 Winner	Boyd Bryson	Corvette C6R
GT1 Fastest Lap	Boyd Bryson	Corvette C6R
	1:16.517

The 2011 Road Atlanta Endurance Event was the 2nd one-off Le-Mans style endurance race to take place in 2011. Billed as the 'GPVWC 2.4 Hours of Road Atlanta' it took place at the Road Atlanta circuit and on the 24th of November 2011. It once again featured LMP1 and GT1 classes.

The Event's promotional poster

Entry List

P1 Class

Car	Driver(s)
Audi R10 TDI	Chris Williamson Sam Millar Steven Martin
Creation CA06	None
Epsilon Euskadi EE1	Mike Schroten
Peugeot 908 HDI	Mark Wicks Lukas Euler
Zytek 065t	None

GT1 Class

Car	Driver(s)
Aston Martin DBR9	Bart De Vos Scott Bennett Lewis Redshaw
Corvette C6R	Mark Stanton Boyd Bryson David Stanton
Saleen S7R	David Jundt Ryan Walker Simon Melhuish

Report

In qualifying it was German newcomer Lukas Euler who took pole position in P1 class, an impressive 1.2s ahead of fellow Peugeot driver Mark Wicks and more than 2 seconds ahead of the Audis. In GT1 class things were a little closer as South African Boyd Bryson claimed pole in his Corvette C6R with Supercup champion Bart De Vos just over 4 tenths behind. The Stanton brothers were not far behind, along with English driver Lewis Redshaw.

As the competitors set off at 10am local time the order set in qualifying largely remained the same in the opening laps with Euler and Bryson quickly starting to pull out gaps on their rivals. As the never-ending process of slower cars being lapped began there were early incidents for Mike Schroten, David Stanton, Sam Millar and Scott Bennett, but all of them recovered and started to regain lost time.

Euler and Wicks battle during the pitstop phase

By the time the sun was starting to set many drivers decided to make their first pitstops and many took softer tyres for the cold night phase. In P1 class Euler held a healthy lead over Wicks who in turn was comfortably ahead of Sam Millar, Steven Martin and Chris Williamson. Meanwhile in GT1 there was a similar picture as Bryson was stretching away from De Vos, who in turn was ahead of the battle between Lewis Redshaw and Mark Stanton. Further back there were several battles as the drivers headed into the night.

The night phase proved tough for many drivers and it claimed several early victims as Scott Bennett, Ryan Walker, Mike Schroten and Sam Millar were all forced to retire within the space of a few minutes as they struggled with the low visibility and temperatures. However things soon settled down and the remaining 11 cars all survived until the dawn and kept going until the end of the race. The P1 order remained unchanged, allowing Lukas Euler to claim victory by an impressive 3 laps over Mark Wicks after the Cornish driver made a costly mistake in the closing laps. In GT1 Boyd Bryson claimed the win as he finished two laps ahead of Bart De Vos, but the battle for third in class went right down to the wire with Lewis Redshaw getting the better of Mark Stanton in the closing laps of the race.

Results

Qualifying

The drivers enjoyed the last rays of sun

The teams raced deep into the night

Pos	Driver	Laptime	Gap	Class	Car	laps
1	Lukas Euler	1:06.487	-	P1	Peugeot 908 HDI	8
2	Mark Wicks	1:07.721	+1.234	P1	Peugeot 908 HDI	9
3	Sam Millar	1:08.841	+2.354	P1	Audi R10 TDI	10
4	Steven Martin	1:08.961	+2.474	P1	Audi R10 TDI	11
5	Chris Williamson	1:09.487	+3.000	P1	Audi R10 TDI	10
6	Mike Schroten	1:10.136	+3.649	P1	Epsilon Euskadi EE1	8
7	Boyd Bryson	1:15.928	+9.441	GT1	Corvette C6R	10
8	Bart De Vos	1:16.359	+9.872	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	9
9	David Stanton	1:16.463	+9.976	GT1	Corvette C6R	11
10	Mark Stanton	1:16.534	+10.047	GT1	Corvette C6R	12
11	Lewis Redshaw	1:16.770	+10.283	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	9
12	David Jundt	1:17.085	+10.598	GT1	Saleen S7R	9
13	Simon Melhuish	1:17.576	+11.089	GT1	Saleen S7R	9
14	Ryan Walker	1:17.967	+11.480	GT1	Saleen S7R	4
15	Scott Bennett	1:18.880	+12.393	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	7

Race

Bryson took the win in GT1 Class

Euler took the win in P1 Class

Pos	Driver	Laps	Time/Gap	Class	Car	Pitstops
1	Lukas Euler	122	2:24:10.463	P1	Peugeot 908 HDI	3
2	Mark Wicks	119	+3 Laps	P1	Peugeot 908 HDI	4
3	Steven Martin	114	+8 Laps	P1	Audi R10 TDI	3
4	Chris Williamson	112	+10 Laps	P1	Audi R10 TDI	3
5	Boyd Bryson	110	+12 Laps	GT1	Corvette C6R	2
6	Bart De Vos	108	+14 Laps	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	2
7	Lewis Redshaw	107	+15 Laps	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	3
8	Mark Stanton	107	+15 Laps	GT1	Corvette C6R	3
9	Simon Melhuish	107	+15 Laps	GT1	Saleen S7R	2
10	David Stanton	105	+17 Laps	GT1	Corvette C6R	3
11	David Jundt	104	+18 Laps	GT1	Saleen S7R	3
Ret	Sam Millar	59	DNF	P1	Audi R10 TDI	1
Ret	Mike Schroten	54	DNF	P1	Epsilon Euskadi EE1	1
Ret	Ryan Walker	53	DNF	GT1	Saleen S7R	3
Ret	Scott Bennett	45	DNF	GT1	Aston Martin DBR9	1

Preceded by: 2011 Sebring Endurance Event

2011 Road Atlanta Endurance Event GPVWC Endurance Events

Succeeded by: ??